Day: February 14, 2014

Whereas Jimmy Kimmel, Andy Cohen, Seth Meyers and Pete Holmes will be among the late-night hosts heading to Austin next month for SXSW, Conan O’Brien and Team Coco are headed just up Interstate 35 to the Big D to follow March Madness. Conan will broadcast for TBS from March 31 through April 3 from the Majestic Theater in Dallas. The Final Four of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament competes April 5, with the national championship game April 7, both at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. This is the second consecutive year Conan has traveled to the Final Four host...

The White House Correspondents’ Association announced today that Joel McHale will headline the 2014 dinner and present remarks following President Barack Obama. The dinner is a black-tie A-D list affair that brings everyone in politics, entertainment and sports together for dinner with the TV/print/radio/online correspondents who cover the White House. It’ll be held May 3, 2014. McHale joked on Twitter @joelmchale, “This is very cool & the website to apply to host it worked perfectly.” Adding: “My material will be equally offensive to all & over within 30 min – just like a Congressional work year.” And then 20 minutes...

(Above: Photo of Ted Alexandro by Charles Meacham.) What do they say about New York City: There are eight million stories, and sometimes it seems as though eight million of the people telling them think they’re comedians? No, that’s not it. It is a fact, though, that America’s biggest city is also its biggest comedy mecca. Hollywood may be Hollywood, but New York City is where comedians are born funny, become funny or arrive to thrust their funny upon us. I think we should meet some of these people. This is a recurring feature, a mini-profile of newcomers, up-and-comers...

Ted Alexandro released his new 69-minute video stand-up comedy special, “I Did It,” today on his website, tedalexandro.com. Other comedians have self-released their stand-up sets before, and as Alexandro noted in a message he sent out to fans and friends last night, he clearly was inspired by acts such as his comedy friend Louis C.K. and the band Radiohead, making “I Did It” available at a price of your own choosing. “It feels like a more genuine interaction with you, my faceless consumer. I think it really takes our relationship to the next level,” Alexandro wrote. Doing so on...

Have you ever seen “a 300-pound black man who giggles like an Asian schoolgirl?” Because that’s how Ron Funches gladly describes himself after giggling during his stand-up performance on Thursday’s Conan. It’s a fun sight, actually. And he’s right to be giggling. A deeper question offered up by Funches, though: How many tuba players is too many to see at one time? Roll the...